It Wasn't The Ending We Expected

It was a quiet dinner at home. Nothing fancy...burgers and fries actually, but with a healthy twist. Extra lean ground beef on sandwich thins and sweet potato fries made in the oven. Who misses the fat when you have good food like that? Certainly not us...we scarfed it down.

So I'm finishing cleaning up the kitchen when all of a sudden Wayne bolts through the back door with a wild look on his face and eyes as big as saucers. I need help...NOW! he says. My mind was racing trying to figure out what was going on. Was he hurt? Did the grill blow off the back porch again? What has happened?

The what turns out to be a snake...a big snake. He'd gone out to put the grill away, and when he reached down to pick up the cover and put it back on it, he saw movement. It took a second to register, after all, the snake was dark and so was the cover, but then he realized his hand was just a foot or so from the slithery visitor. The snake went one way and Wayne went another. Good thing it was him; I'd still be screaming.

I rushed to the garage to get him a shovel and a hoe and we managed to kill the uninvited dinner guest. Okay...Wayne killed it and I stood back hollering eek! and yikes! This guy was about three feet long, and while it wasn't a moccasin, he clearly reared his head and bared his fangs before he met his end.

I suppose we're lucky in that we made it clear to September before our first snake encounter. Last year they were everywhere. What we want to know, however, is where was he before he got under the cover and does he have friends? Needless to say, it was exciting there for a while...but not the ending we expected to a quiet dinner at home.

 

Comments

[Linda j]

Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeek!

[Jeanne]

Oh my goodness! I'm with you, my support/help would have been to stand there much like you've described! I hope you were able to settle back down and still enjoy your evening.

I saw a snake in my garden for the first time ever this summer. Even though it was a garter snake and harmless, it was a big one (in my view) and scared the bejeebers out of me when it moved as I was watering. I saw it I think three times and each time it slithered under the fence into the neighbor's backyard. They have outdoor dogs so maybe they took care of it, or it decided hanging out in our neighborhood wasn't the smarted idea and moved on. {shudders}

[Pat]

And I thought I had my hands full trying to wrangle 2 dogs to the vet yesterday! You guys had far better adventures in the Wild Kingdom... I mean, backyard.

[Trey]

Did you take a picture of the snake? It you did, can you please post it?

[MilliD]

Yikes! My closest recent encounter was seeing a dead one on my walk the other morning. That's a close enough encounter for me!

[Cheri]

My heart is pounding just reading your story. Not an ending I'm ever interested in encountering.

[Janet]

The element of surprise always gets the adrenaline pumping! Glad it wasn't a poisonous snake and that you were able to catch it before it decided to hide again. I still don't know why we have to scream when we see an unexpected critter, just adds to the drama, I guess.